Very slight leak PVC Shower Drain, Access is Poor. Anyone tried stop leak for pools?

[Etbrown4]

With shower running, we get maybe 10 drops leaking a minute.

Access is Poor because it's above the ceiling and between the first and second floor. Then there are 2 HVAC trunk lines under the drain but above the ceiling. Can't see the drain but you can see the 2" PVC coming from it with water drops.

Curious if anyone has tried pool stop leak or something similar for a small drain leak like this.

Should be all PVC and glue. If there are no gaskets or seals, what's to leak anyway?

 

[Terry]

Sometimes it's a loose drain on the shower pan. I sometimes install a new drain, using Silicone instead of plumbers putty.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

How about a pictures from the top, that is the shower pan or floor. Water can be seeping through gaps in the grout if it is a tile floor and the water runs downhill to the drain area. If it is a preformed shower pan it could be leaking from under the drain flange.

 

[Etbrown4]

Fiberglass shower . All 1 piece

Can that leak between the pvc and fiberglass pan? To many miles away for a pic.

 

[Etbrown4]

I saw the Oatey no calk install video. If this is what I have or something similar it's obvious that there is a leak possible at the top flange if the putty is dry. (maybe the bottom nut is loose too) The other opportunity is the rubber ring. I'll likely never find the tool to compress the rubber ring, so if I can't, I'll apply silicone to its ID and OD as some other posts mentioned.

So after all that, I won't at first be cutting a 2'x2' opening in the sheetrock ceiling below, and won't be removing large hvac trunk ducts which are just below the drain.

I'll try to work this from above and between trying to compress the rubber ring, and silicone I'm thinking the prospect is good for stopping the small leak.

I'm happy to hear other ideas too.

 

[Etbrown4]

I looked a Wingtite retrofit shower drain. Can be installed completely from the top. They have an excellent YouTube video.

You have to carefully. CUT out one inch of the circumference of the old drain with hacksaw etc, squeeze it, the lock nut drops off, and you slip in the Wingtite from the top. It uses an o ring to seal the new drain to the existing 2" PVC. Online reviews are very positive.

Plan to try it.

 

[Jeff H Young]

never tried a stop leak. good luck with wingtite retrokit. let us know how you like it

 

[Etbrown4]

Looks like the Wingtite will only work if is a no calk drain with a rubber bushing. So If the present drain is glued on, wingtite won't work. we'll see.

Several plumbers have said in our area, pretty much all are glue. At the same time, they say it's usually the plumbers putty that failed, and just unscrew the top half, reputty and you should be fine... Unless there's a crack somewhere.

 

[Jeff H Young]

I have only used the no caulk like Terry pictured (don't like them though) Mostly I see silicone and not putty.
You'll have to figure out what you have. Don't remember seeing ones that screw on from topside here

 

[Etbrown4]

Sioux Chief, Easy Flo, Plastic Oddities and several other makers have glue-on shower drains where the top half screws or unscrews, adjusting to pan height. In the East these seem to be the most common in new residential construction with no ceramic tile.

I've spoken at length with the top tech guy at Wingtite. He confidently says that with a glue-on or the internal rubber seal type you can replace both from on top using the Wingtite. No sheetrock to tear out

On the glue type he says you use a $10 internal PVC pipe saw from Lowes etc, run on a drill, trim off just below the joint, and the Wingtite grabs the 2" PVC with an O-ring seal and you're done.

All this is on the word of their tech guy, as I've not tried it yet. I have no connection with Wingtite.

 

[Etbrown4]

This time, problem solved from above. No Wingtite needed.

My drain is a glue on two piece. The top flange threads into the lower half. The lower half is glued to the 2" PVC.

Mine was a failure of the 15 year old plumbers putty under the top flange. It's the same failure seen at a similar age with kitchen sink strainer pipe dope. Re dope it and you should be good for 15 more years!

I was reluctant to use silicone because you are effectively pulling the 2" PVC up to the bottom of the shower pan with a fair amount of pressure to get it tight. My thought is the putty has more body than silicone and might squeeze out less, plus with putty it easy to disassemble if needed.